General

This U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website is a "portal" site, designed to give users one convenient gateway from which to access numerous EPA programs and topics related to environmentally-friendly building. These programs include Energy Star, Indoor Air, Smart Growth, Environmentally Preferable Building Products and more -- including a new Construction and Demolition (C&D) Debris Website (select "Waste" from list offered.)

The Green Building Research Center resides in the organized research unit, the Center for Environmental Design Research (CEDR), which has large stores of instrumentation suitable for doing green building case studies. Research staff include faculty, research staff, and students from the Building Science Group, and interdisciplinary group from the departments of architecture, engineering, computer science, and business.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) accelerates the design and construction of green buildings in Canada. The Council is a broad-based inclusive coalition of representatives from different segments of the design and building industry.

The Green Building Information Council promotes energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in Canadian buildings through the facilitation of governmental and interdisciplinary partnerships. Acting as a clearinghouse for green building information, the council pairs participants with programs and assists with the development and transfer of new technology.

The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS, pronounced "chips") aims to increase the energy efficiency of schools in California by marketing information, services, and incentive programs directly to school districts and designers. The Collaborative's goal is to facilitate the design of high performance schools: environments that are not only energy efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities needed for a quality education.

As the building industry consumes large amounts of material resources and energy, specific technological and political means should be developed in order to promote sustainable buildings. To be nationally authorized in Japan, a cooperative academic, industrial and governmental project has been to establish a new system called the Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE).

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) will be the peak global not-for-profit organisation working to transform the property industry towards sustainability through its members - national Green Building Councils.

The City of Santa Monica has a commitment to protecting the environment, improving quality of life, and promoting sustainability. In order to fulfill this commitment, the City has adopted a set of requirements and recommendations to encourage the development of "green" buildings without forcing excessive costs or other burdens upon developers, building owners or occupants. The City has also developed Green Building Guidelines to explain possible ways of achieving green building goals.

For more than a decade O2 has pioneered solutions to a central problem of the made environment: how to foster sustainability while having a good quality of life. At debates, meetings and international events, the people in this unique forum have been grappling with the problems of a throw-away culture, formulating nonpolluting production methods, sourcing nontoxic, sustainably managed materials--and crucially, passing on the knowledge.

Ecolabel Index is the global, independent database of ecolabels. An ecolabel is a logo that identifies a product or company that has met an environmentally preferable standard. Click on the link for more information on ecolabelling for green buildings, building products, and building services.

InformeDesign has been created and sponsored to bring research and practice aspects of the design professions together. The designers of the built environment face a multitude of complex challenges: resource, social, environmental, behavioral, and design in nature. InformeDesign will bring research from a vast array of reputable research sources to the design community that address those challenges.

Thinktosustain.com is a knowledge portal for sustainable development initiatives taken by Industry, Institutions and Individuals worldwide. It is an IIM Alumni initiative. The team consists of environmentalists, industry professionals, knowledge management experts, researchers and consultants.

The mission of The Pelican Web is to collect, organize, and disseminate knowledge on sustainable development, with especial focus on human development; and to publish the monthly, free subscription, open access Mother Pelican, a journal of sustainable human development.